One in a Million: Chopping onions and standing up for farm animals

ExpandED Schools

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

We’re reaching our 1 millionth student this school year! This blog is part of a series where we journey throughout our expanded learning schools network and get to know some of our students. Meet Naomi, a 6th grader in Queens. She’s 1 in a million!

“I like to dance, sing and cook. I do cooking every day at school. We’re making wonton cupcakes and we’ll fill it with beef or shrimp. We learn about the food – the background and where it comes from. Then we prepare it, and then we cook. When we do the recipes, Ms. M gives us the nutrition facts. I didn’t really like onions before I joined cooking club but then I started eating foods with onions. I didn’t realize we were going to chop the onions; I thought the teachers would do it. But now I have skills.

Three words to describe myself would be confident, adventurous and strong. I’m confident because I don’t give up. I try new things – like onions! I don’t stick to one thing all the time. I’m strong on the inside and outside. I don’t let a lot of things get to me. When I’m having a bad day, I don’t really show it. I think about how other people will feel if I wasn’t strong and I let it all out and was disrespectful. It was kind of hard at first, but along the way it got easier. I take deep breaths.

If I could solve any problem in the world it would be animal rights. Farm animals. I would like to try to convince farmers to stop abusing animals and to feed them right. They don’t always feed cows grass. I learned in class that there’s a certain amount of cow blood that goes in our milk.”